Historical Descriptions

Leonard’s Gazetteer of England and Wales 1850

The Parliamentary Gazetteer of England and Wales 1851

Biddlesden, or Bittlesden, a parish in the second division of the three hundreds of Buckingham, county of Buckingham; 3½ miles north-east of Brackley. Living, a perpetual curacy, formerly in the archd. of Buckingham and dio. of Lincoln, now in tbe dio. of Oxford; valued at £6 8s., rated in the parliamentary returns at £55; gross income £72. Patron, in 1835, G. Morgan, Esq. “Ernald de Bosco, steward to Robert, earl of Leicester, gave this village to the Cistertian monks of Gerondou, to tbe intent that an abbey of tbe same order might be founded here, which was accordingly begun A.D. 1147. It was dedicated to St Mary and St Nicholas, and had, at the dissolution, annual revenues rated at £143 1s. 3d. There belonged to this house eleven monks and fifty-one servants. The site passed from the crown, 32d Henry VIII., to Thomas Wriothesley.” Tanner’s Not. Mon. “On the destruction of the abbey the parishioners resorted to a small chapel adjoining to a dwelling-house; this was a little tyled fabric and had a bell in a turret. I presume it was sometimes made use of in the time of tbe abbey by the parishioners, especially on common days. It was, as appears by old deeds, dedicated to St Margaret, on whose festival here was a fair granted to the convent, in 1315, 8th Edward II. and also a Monday market. This parish contains 1700 acres.” Willis’s Hist, of Bucks. Adjoining Biddlesden house there is a modern chapel, appropriated to the use of the parishioners. A Sunday school, in which 70 children are instructed, is supported by George Morgan, Esq. Pop., in 1801, 147; in 1831, 184. Houses 33. Acres 1,630. A.P. £2,119. Poor rates, in 1837, £49